Kingston, Apr 17 (ANI): West Indies Cricket World Cup Managing Director Chris Dehring has reportedly said that in spite of the anticipated low turnout of spectators, the revenue from ticket sales was already double of the total ticket sales from the last World Cup in South Africa. The last WC had collected around 10.5 million dollars through ticket sales.

He said that 80 to 90 per cent of tickets for the semifinals had been sold and that in his opinion they hadn’t been bought with particular teams in mind.

"That’s already a creditable showing when you compare South Africa’s size, both in population and economy, with that of the West Indies," The News quoted Dehring as saying while speaking to a Jamaican newspaper.

Dehring said that the average attendance of the three Super Eights games — England v Sri Lanka, Bangladesh v South Africa and Australia v England — just before the Ireland-New Zealand match was just under 10,000.

He further explained: "If we continue on this upward trend as expected, our average attendance will be comparable with the previous CWC in South Africa, which had an average attendance of around 10,000 persons per game."

An optimistic Dehring also said that the tournament would rebound from early exit of India and Pakistan. "As certain teams continue to excel we anticipate seeing more nationals from those countries," he added.

He also explained that a review of the World Cup could not be carried until the tournament had finished as factors varied in each game. (ANI)